Canada Day long weekend is here at last and Google Maps is rolling out new features that will help to make your trip to the cottage, campground or city both easier to navigate and easier to remember.

First up, we’ve added multi-stop directions in Google Maps on Android (coming soon to iOS). Most trips to the cottage involve the inevitable multiple stops to pick up groceries, bait and beer. To create your multi-stop route, just open the app, enter a destination, tap the corner menu, and then click “add a stop”. To rearrange the order of your stops, tap and hold the three dot menu to the left of “Add stop” and drag it to the position you want – you can even search for types of places like gas stations or restaurants and get results along your route. Once you’ve added all your stops, tap “done” and your multi-stop route is complete. When you enter navigation mode you’ll have the same seamless driving experience you’re used to, whether you’re going from errand to errand or hitting scenic spots on the Sea to Sky Highway.

We’ve also added a new feature to help Google Maps work like an on-the-go travel diary. Android users can now use the Your Timeline feature inside Google Maps to preserve their travel memories and info in a new way by adding notes to their locations. All you need to do is enable Location History and open Your Timeline inside Google Maps then select a date to add a written note.

No matter where your travels take you this summer and beyond, these new Google Maps features will get you there and help keep track of all the memories you make along the way.

The show will be hosted by Lauren Toyota, who is well-known to Canadians as a former MuchMusic VJ and host, and who has worked full-time as a YouTube Creator for the past few years, co-hosting her channel Hot for Food. Lauren will be joined by YouTube sensation Eva Gutowski of My Life as Eva, a fashion, lifestyle and comedy vlogger.

We’ve also made a few changes this year, which we hope will make the experience even better for fans.

First, we’ve moved the show to the Molson Amphitheatre. Last year we had more than 15,000 fans arrive at Yonge Dundas Square, so we needed to move to a venue with a bigger capacity, and with sightlines that mean everyone will have a great view of the show.

Second, this year’s show will be ticketed. No more lining up at 9AM in order to get close to the stage! Fans will be able to get their seats in advance, so you know you’ll have a spot to watch all the action. Tickets are priced at $30 for front section seats and $25 for middle and back section seats. And they go on sale 10:00 AM on Tuesday, June 21 - click here!

And finally, we’ve upped the ante on Meet and Greets with your favourite Creators. We will be giving a limited number of ticketholders a chance to meet their favourite stars for free the day before the show. But here’s the catch - only ticketholders will be able to access the separate registration for Creator meet and greets. When we announce the meet and greet registration in the next few weeks these spots will go really quickly, so make sure you already have your tickets before registration goes live.

Check out the full list of participating Creators below - they are among the most-watched stars on the planet, with a combined reach of 34+ million subscribers, and a cumulative 4.6+ billion views!

June 17, 2016

iPhone users—this one’s for you. Meet Gboard, a new app for your iPhone that lets you search and send information, GIFs, emojis and more, right from your keyboard.

Say you’re texting with a friend about tomorrow’s lunch plans. They ask you for the address. Until now it’s worked like this: You leave your texting app. Open Search. Find the restaurant. Copy the address. Switch back to your texts. Paste the address into a message. And finally, hit send.

Searching and sending stuff on your phone shouldn’t be that difficult. With Gboard, you can search and send all kinds of things—restaurant info, flight times, news articles—right from your keyboard. Anything you’d search on Google, you can search with Gboard. Results appear as cards with the key information front and center, such as the phone number, ratings and hours. With one tap, you can send it to your friend and you keep the conversation going.

Search in Gboard

You can search for more than just Google search results. Instead of scrolling to find💃 or 👯 , search for “dancer” and find that emoji you were looking for instantly. Even better—you can search for the perfect GIF to show people how you’re really feeling. Finally, Gboard has Glide Typing, which lets you type words by sliding your finger from key to key instead of tapping—so everything you do is just a little bit faster.

Emoji search, GIF search, Glide Typing

Gboard works in any app—messaging, email, YouTube—so you can use it anywhere on your phone. Get it now in the App Store in English in Canada, with more languages to come.

Whether it’s for entertainment, indulging a passion, or discovering something new, more people are turning to YouTube to watch video. In fact, growth in watch time on YouTube is up at least 50% year-over-year. Now, more than ever, businesses can connect with their customers through video advertising on YouTube.

But we know that creating a video ad can be challenging. To make it easier for every business— from a dog walker to a barber shop owner—to get started with advertising on YouTube, we’re launching YouTube Director. Now, video ads are even more accessible to all businesses.

Make a video ad right from your phone

With the free YouTube Director for business app(available for iPhone today in the U.S. and Canada) anyone can create a video ad for their business quickly and easily—right from their phone. No editing experience required. People like Woody Lovell Jr., owner of the The Barber Shop Club in Los Angeles, are already seeing positive results with YouTube Director.

Woody shot and edited a video ad by himself, uploaded it to YouTube, and worked with an AdWords expert to run a campaign. As a result, Woody’s business saw a significant increase in potential customers being able to remember and recognize his ad.

We challenged five business owners—including Woody—to create a video ad in twenty minutes or less. Watch what happened and download the app to give it a try.

Is your business an app? We can create a video ad for you too

YouTube Director automated video creates a video ad automatically from existing assets like logos and app screenshots in the App Store or Google Play Store, and is available globally. Reach out to a Google expert (1-855-500-2756) for more information.

No matter what kind of business you’re in, getting started with advertising on YouTube just became a whole lot easier. We can’t wait to see what you make. Happy filming.

Dr. Riaz Qureshi was born in Pakistan and educated and trained as a family doctor. He practiced medicine in Saudi Arabia for 13 years before moving to Canada for a better quality of life for his family. Now in Toronto, Dr. Qureshi is an avid library user. And, thanks to a new Internet lending program launched by the Toronto Public Library with funding from Google.org and the City of Toronto, he’s using a wi-fi hotspot to prepare for his medical license exam in September. His two sons – one in university and the other in high school – are also using the hotspot for their studies, and his wife uses it for her continuing education. The story of Dr. Qureshi and his family reflects how essential it is for people in this city to have access to the transformative power of the Internet.

Just over a year ago Google Canada approached the Toronto Public Library (TPL) with the idea of lending out WiFi hotspots to our users. And today we are officially launching our WiFi hotspot lending pilot program, offering Torontonians free Internet at home.

The CRTC reports that only 59 percent of low income households have Internet access at home. The aim of this program is to increase access, build connections and to expand the opportunities afforded by the Internet. Public libraries, as providers of access to technology, are catalysts for smart cities. In a smart city, no-one gets left behind simply because they can’t afford the technology or don’t know how to use it. If you want to do your homework, apply for a job, access government services, develop a skill, or send an email, you should be able to do that from home.

Along with Dr. Qureshi, we’ve already heard from other hotspot borrowers, including a refugee staying in a local shelter who is using the hotspot to apply for jobs online and look for long-term housing. Another hotspot borrower is a university student from out-of-town who regularly uses the library’s wi-fi to study and complete his course work. Now, he’s able to access the Internet outside of library hours at home. A hotspot was also borrowed by a single mother on disability who is using the device to submit benefit forms, communicate by email with her caseworker and browse health-related information online.

We’re starting small with a pilot program at six TPL branches, all located in neighbourhoods serving large numbers of low income households. We have a total of 210 participants and we’re working with them to show how the devices work, and make sure they know how to access free TPL eLearning resources and ebooks, digital magazines and more.

Participants can borrow the hotspots for up to six months at a time, and can use 10GB of data per month. This differs from the WiFi hotspot lending that other library systems offer where libraries have access to unlimited data plans for borrowers. We’re actively investigating if vendors are willing to provide more flexible data services as this is critical to the program’s long-term success.

The ultimate aim of this partnership with Google is to give some of the most underserved in our city a way to bridge the tech divide. We’re excited by the story of Dr. Qureshi and the many other stories already emerging from this pilot program reflecting the amazing possibilities that unfold when Torontonians have access to the Internet.

Toronto’s well-known neighbourhoods are teeming with energy and life, boasting an eclectic mix of shopping, culture and food that have put the city on the map. And, as the digital world changes the way consumers make decisions and purchases, the city’s businesses are adapting to optimize the potential of going online. This transition, however, poses a challenge for many small enterprises as they often aren’t sure how to get started.

That’s why we have partnered with the City of Toronto to launch Digital Main Street, a program that will help 40,000 Toronto businesses adopt the digital tools and technologies to help them grow. Digital Main Street is a platform that is free for main street businesses to join, helping them navigate the often confusing and overwhelming online universe by acting as a guide to all things digital.

Over the next few months we’ll be working with the city to offer programming that will help businesses amplify their online presence and reach more consumers from Canada and around the world. In fact, we started earlier this month with BIAcadamy, hosting 47 business improvement areas (BIA) at Google Canada and providing training so they can help businesses in their neighbourhoods get online and grow globally with Google tools, like Adwords, AdWords Express and Google My Business.

Last year, over half of the trillions of Google searches conducted globally happened on smartphones, and critical to the success of Toronto’s main street businesses will be capitalizing on this move to mobile. As part of the Digital Main Street program, we’re arming Toronto businesses with digital tools that will help them get in front of potential customers during key moments when they are searching for products and services close to home. Canadian search interest in “near me” has increased by 400% year-over-year. We know that these searches lead to sales. In fact, 74% of shopping conversions occur within one hour of the initial search.1 There’s unlimited potential for small businesses to take advantage of mobile tools to be present during these moments.

As a former startup ourselves, Google has a passion for entrepreneurship and innovation. We’re proud to be part of the Digital Main Street team and look forward to supporting Canadian entrepreneurs and helping our businesses grow.

Just over a year ago, we introduced Google Photos with one mission: To be a home for all your photos and videos, organized and brought to life, so that you can share and save what matters.Now 200 million of you are using Google Photos each month. We’ve delivered more than 1.6 billion animations, collages and movies, among other things. You’ve collectively freed up 13.7 petabytes of storage on your devices—it would take 424 years to swipe through that many photos! We’ve also applied 2 trillion labels, and 24 billion of those have been for ... selfies.To celebrate our first birthday, we’ve gathered a few of the team's favourite tips and updates we’ve made in the past year, so you can keep all that good stuff going…1. To fly through Google Photos on the web at photos.google.com, press Shift-? to see a list of keyboard shortcuts.

2. Narrow down your search results by searching for more than one thing at a time. Search for two people: “Mom and Dad,” or a person and a place: “Mom Muskoka,” a place and a thing: “Muskoka bear” or a person and a thing: “Mom bear” to find that photo of your mama bear with the real bear.

3. Running out of Google storage? On photos.google.com, under settings, you can choose to convert all of your uploaded content from “Original quality” to the free “High quality” size to recover lots of space.

5. On photos.google.com, easily find the photos you recently uploaded by going to search, then choosing "Show More” and then “Recently Added.”

6. Tap into your device folders from the top of the albums page on Android, and see which folders are being backed up. Double-check that all those screenshots are safe!

7. Create a shared album for your family. Every time someone adds a new photo, everyone will get a notification so they can see your latest photo or video.

8. Occasionally photos can appear out of order in your gallery—perhaps because the date was incorrectly set on your phone or camera when you took them. On photos.google.com, you can edit both the time and time zone of a photo or group of photos to put them in the right order in your library. Change one and they all get adjusted.

9. At the top of the albums page on mobile, scroll the carousel to the right and tap on the videos tile to get a view of all the videos in your library (on photos.google.com, you’ll see videos at the top of the album page).

Thanks for a wonderful first year—keep it up; all those selfies aren’t going to take themselves!

Posted by Anil Sabharwal, Vice President, Google Photos

The mobile web just got a whole lot faster Canada, with the launch of Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). As of today, Canadians will see AMP webpages in relevant mobile search results, offering lightning-fast renderings of webpages from a number of Postmedia’s leading brands (including the National Post), The Globe and Mail,TC Média,The Toronto Star, Global News, The Weather Networkand hundreds of other national and international websites.

Until AMP, time had the occasional habit of sloooooowing down on the mobile web. A slow mobile web is a bad experience for users seeking information online, and it’s bad for publishers who want readers to quickly access and enjoy the content they’ve created. And research suggests that people will abandon a mobile website if it doesn’t load in three seconds. That's why, last October, we joined others across the industry on the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project, an open source initiative to make the mobile web as fast as possible.

Webpages built with AMP load an average of four times faster and use 10 times less data than equivalent non-AMP pages. AMP HTML allows websites to build lighter weight versions of standard webpages, loads rich web pages and smart ads instantaneously, and offers the benefit of the same code working across multiple platforms, apps, browsers and devices.

When you search for a story or topic on Google from a mobile device, webpages created using AMP will appear when relevant in the Top Stories section of the search results page. Any story you choose to read will load blazingly fast—and it’s easy to scroll through the article without it taking forever to load or jumping all around as you read. It’s also easy to flip through the search results just by swiping from one full-page AMP story to the next. In most cases the pages render instantly.

Go ahead and try it out - it's how reading on the mobile web should be: fast, responsive and fun.

It’s that time of year again!!! The deadline to apply for Google Community Grants is one month away. Google Canada is looking for innovative non-profits in Toronto, Montreal or Kitchener-Waterloo who are pushing the needle in the following areas:

Closing the digital divide by helping to improve access to technology to those who do not have regular access.

Through our Community Grants program we have had the opportunity to support a range of organizations such as Ladies Learning Code, Scientists in School and Pathways to Education.

Applications are due June 30th, 2016 and any registered Canadian charity is eligible to apply, so if your organization has a project or program underway in one of our focus areas please submit your application online through one of our three community programs depending on your location:

When Google evaluates proposals, we look at impact first. We’re looking for projects which are at the community level but have scale and sustainability. We don’t tend to fund applications for short-term employment positions or office overhead costs (rent, utilities, etc).

If you believe your organization fits these guidelines, please submit your proposal today using one of the links above. For any further questions please contact Canada’s community affairs manager, Lauren Skelly lskelly@google.com